See pic of my melted headlight switch in #5939's photo album. Almost lost car on that one... Headlight switch is not protected (fuses 14 and 15 come AFTER switch), yet it contains an internal bulb! A very hot internal bulb. Is just a cheap switch to begin with. Heat from bulb will eventually melt switch. If there was no ground wire for that internal bulb would simply be inconvenience of a switch stuck open or closed. With ground wire you can have an unprotected short. BTW: compare to hazard flasher circuit, in which fuse 6 comes BEFORE the switch... "Funny smell" when my switch melted was accompanied by fire. This is very bad in a plastic car. Note that insulation was melted off ground wire (intermittently) all the way back to relay compartment. I highly recommend pulling your headlight switch to see what's going on. Simply remove A/C panel and pop switch towards you. Bill Robertson #5939 >--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Gus Schlachter <gus@xxxx> wrote: > My parents always told me that attempting to my battery-operated toys > run faster by hooking them to 120V would do me no good. > > Boy was she wrong! She didn't know that in the future, I would own a > car that would require me to be able to quickly identify that exact > smell. > > That being said, I have several electrical issues. The fuse for the > low-beam headlights has started to melt, and the headlight switch is > damaged (i.e., wont stay in). I don't use the headlights much at all, > so is this a coincidence or could these problems be related? > > My plan is this: > > 1. new headlight switch > 2. all new fuses > 3. clean all fuse connections > 4. clean all relays and relay connections > > I hope that will do it. I cant find any other damaged components but > the wiring does get quite hot in that relay compartment. > > > > Gus Schlachter > VIN #4695 > Austin, TX > > > P.S. If someone out there (ahem) made a "kit" to replace most all of > the incandescent bulbs (interior, door, dash, tail, etc.) with the > super/hyper LED's, I'd buy it. Just to take some of the load off.